We had a very Merry Christmas and hope you did too!

We were in school through last Friday and being that we are close to Milwaukee, we did not see the snowfall that other communities did on Thursday/Friday that caused a wave of school cancellations in SE WI.  I did not mind though, I always hate to have a snow day right before break, and I had students finishing up tests and quiz corrections, so being in school was easier for me than not being in school.

Sunday night was our family of five Christmas celebration.  We had reservations at PF Chang's for dinner and then a couple last minute gift purchases at the mall before heading home to open presents.  I went with a color scheme of red, white, and silver for gift wrapping and loved how it turned out!  I also made sure to put ribbon or a bow on every gift I wrapped.  I really enjoyed wrapping things up and Cooper (my 7 yo) commented more than once how pretty I wrapped everything.  Thankfully my boys appreciate these extra touches.

The boys could not wait to open their presents

The boys were spoiled as always.  I got a new Citizen watch with a pink face that I absolutely love!  I also got some mercury glass trays and containers from Pottery Barn that will hopefully help me organize some things in the master bath.  I was completed blown away by the surprise gift my awesome husband got me.

This baby is light as a feather 

A MacBook Air!  I was so stunned that I think my first words were, "You did not get me a MacBook" when I opened the box it was in.  I have really been wanting my own because I am tired of lugging my school MacBook Pro home every night (and it is getting soooo slow).  I also now will not have to reinstall fonts every summer after they reconfigure my computer at school.  I can also now finally hook up my Silhouette that I got LAST YEAR and have never used because I was not able to download the software on my school computer and I just loathe using our Dell desktop.  So as you can see, a new laptop was something I was definitely desiring, but completely shocked to receive.  I now definitely plan on getting my butt in gear and opening a TN or TPT store.  So many ideas of lessons to create and now no excuse to not create them.

Christmas Eve we met my parents for church for the 5 PM service.  The boys and I had been out to lunch and the burger and bloody mary I had were delicious, but did not set well with me at all.  I was not feeling good about an hour before church so we ended up being a bit late for the service, but I toughed it out and felt OK the rest of the night.  We had a nice supper of tenderloin or turkey sandwiches.  It was just my oldest brother, my parents and us for the evening as my other two brothers were celebrating with their inlaws.

Christmas Day the boys slept in until 6:30 AM, very surprising because Cooper was up at 4AM the night St Nick came.  The boys got the WiiU and some games for it (our Wii has been out of commission for a few months) among some other gifts.  They were not expecting it at all (not sure they really had even heard much about it).

Family photo

We had a wonderful Christmas Day with my side of the family.  My niece turned two in November and  it is so fun to have a little one again (Cooper is the next youngest).  Also it's lots of fun for me to have a little girl around.  As you all know boys rule my life!

The boys with Nana and Papa

My mom made a delicious ham dinner and we all overindulged.  She also is a master baker and makes dozens and dozens of delicious and cute cookies.  The woman is talented!  The grandkids opened their gifts after lunch and then the adults opened theirs.  I got lots of wonderful presents, but spending time as a family is of course the greatest gift of all.

We headed home around 8 PM and Greg got the Wii U set up for the boys.  Since then we have all been chilling out and relaxing.  We all watched Marley and Me (love that movie) this morning and I watched The Family Stone last night.  Got both those DVDs from St Nick.  They are two movies I can watch over and over.  I also read a Fern Michaels Christmas book.  

This afternoon Greg and I ran to Target to do some Christmas clearance shopping for next year.  We got some new lights and gift wrapping supplies.  I have to say there was not too much left, unlike last year where I really loaded up on gift wrap.  Tonight Greg and I are doing a little early NYE adult only celebration at my favorite restaurant Bacchus.

I hope you are all enjoying your break, spending time with loved ones and relaxing, as well as recharging, because lord knows we teachers need to!